Worries that diplomats may flee
BAGHDAD, July 9 – Today Iraqi officials shared their worries about the violence against diplomats, urging them not to give in to Al Qaeda’s fear spreading terror. The recent slaughtering of Egypt’s top official has led these concerns, Ihab Sherif was kidnapped by armed terrorists on a street in western Baghdad last weekend and on an Islamic website Al Qaeda claimed Thursday that they had killed him.
The fear of diplomats fleeing the country are not misplaced. Pakistani Ambassador Mohammed Younis Khan left Iraq Wednesday after an kidnapping attempt led by a gunfight. Bahrain’s top official, Hassan Ansari, is expected to follow this example as he was injured in a similar attempt. The Jordanian Foreign Ministry released a statement that they will defy the terrorist threat and are looking to send an ambassador to Iraq as soon as possible.
The recent attacks have been condemned by the U.N. Security Council which gathered at request of Egypt in light of the horrible events, Iraq’s Shiite and Sunni muslims joined the Security Council in the condemnation on Friday.
Nevertheless attacks continued in Iraq’s capital as one U.S. soldier was killed and six wounded by a roadside bomb in Balad, just north of Baghdad. Another roadside bomb joined by gunfire wounded three U.S. soldiers in an attack on a convoy just south of Baghdad. In Fallouja a suicide car bomber struck an Iraqi army convoy but details have not been given out at this time.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said that they will not speed up the withdrawal of Italian troops out of Iraq because of new threats. The group claiming the London attack also included a threat to attack Rome in their message on an Islamic website. “We have to fulfill our commitments and cannot leave the job half-done,” Berlusconi said at a news conference.
